OK Go Starts Contest on Facebook to Promote New Video

OK Go is asking its fans to re-post its new video on Facebook, promising the person who is able to get the most comments on the video on his personal Facebook page an engraved iPad preloaded with the band’s music and videos as well as “some exclusive content and apps we think are funny,” as the band states on its Facebook page.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2fpgpanZAw]

Fans can download the video as an M4V file and then re-upload it to Facebook to distribute it to their own contacts — a somewhat cumbersome approach, but that doesn’t really seem to stop anyone from participating. The video has already received more than 300 responses on Facebook, many of which are re-posts. It has also seen close to 100,000 views on YouTube since it first appeared on the site two days ago.

Viral video has been a huge part of OK Go’s identity ever since the band saw its 2006 hit “Here It Goes Again” rack up millions of views and countless video responses on YouTube. However, OK Go’s net savviness received a damper when the band’s former record label EMI decided to disable embedding features for its video in January. The band’s singer told us in an an interview back then that most people at EMI knew how important embedding was to be successful online, adding: “But it’s a big massive system that takes a long time to turn around.”

Apparently it took too long for OK Go, which parted with EMI in March. The band has since formed its own label and hired Los Angeles-based online music startup Topspin Media to handle some of its promotion and merchandise operations. Topspin was started 2008 by former Yahoo Music GM Ian Rogers, who has also been called the “fourth Beastie Boy” for his work with the band in the 90s.